John S. Sidey

The Adair County Democrat

1889 - It was a time of immense expansion in Iowa. Just the year before, Henry A. Wallace, destined to become the most famous native son of Adair County, Iowa, was born in a farm house in Orient township. John S. Sidey, father of E. J. Sidey established the Sidey family in Adair County. The name of the newspaper was the Adair County Democrat, which changed later to the Adair County Free Press.

E. J. Sidey

Since that time in the 1800s, the Sidey family had developed photo journalism, starting with E. J. Sidey (1862-1938). E. J. was one of the first editor/publishers of a midwest weekly newspaper to use local news photos.

The Adair County Free Press met technical change in its fifth decade. Newspapers had replaced the old sketches in big daily newspapers some years before the 1930s, but photos were still rare in the weekly press.

K. H. Sidey

(1890-1976) K. H. took up photography in the late 1920s, and began to take news pictures. A few photos were sent to engraving plants, and the photos ran in the Free Press a week or two late which didn’t satisfy Ken's news sense. He took leave from the Free Press a few days a week to visit professional photo-engraving plants and to study the equipment. Then in the early 1930s he designed and built his own engraving plant in the basement of his home. The Free Press was one of the first weekly newspapers in Iowa to have its own photo-engraving plant, and news photos from that time on have been an important part of covering Adair County events.

Edwin Sidey

Ed (1925-2008) a fourth-generation journalist, continued as editor/publisher/photo journalist of the Adair County Free Press after the passing of his father Kenneth. Ed continued with darkroom work in the 1950s and brought the Free Press into the digital age in the 1990s.

Hugh S. Sidey

It was photography that shaped Ed’s brother, Hugh, (1927-2005). Just a year out of college, he co-authored a book with Rodney Fox, one of his professors, on photo journalism. Hugh, with his Lecia camera became a stringer for the photo-journal Life in 1955, while he worked at the Omaha World-Herald as a reporter. Ed had joined him at the World-Herald, and they roomed together as they had in college at Iowa State University. Hugh went on to be known nationally. In 1957 Hugh worked as Time Magazine’s Washington Bureau Chief where he contributed 50 years of presidential coverage.